Wigan have all but sealed the deal to bring Jason Scotland to the JJB. A fee of £2 million has already been agreed for the Trinidad and Tobago striker but earlier today Scotland received a work permit and passed a medical, bringing the inevitable move that little bit closer. Wigan are now waiting on international clearance, although they have already declared him as their player.
Scotland is an interesting prospect. At 30-years-old this is a massive opportunity for him to prove his worth in the Premier League and last season’s form for Swansea provides some evidence that he could well make an impact.
Scotland notched 21 goals and 10 assists in 39 Championship appearances. In fantasy terms that put him second only to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake of Wolves. There will be serious doubts as to whether he can translate that kind of form in the top division, although his performances in Swansea’s cup run, which included two goals against Fulham, will give him the confidence that he can trouble defences in the months ahead…
Although he’s likely to walk into the role of Wigan’s penalty taker, his goal output will surely depend on the service that’s provided from his Wigan team-mates. On the plus side, new JJB boss Roberto Martinez is well aware of Scotland’s qualities and the type of game that Wigan will need to play to get the most from him, having managed him at Swansea.
Martinez will look to bring his own brand of ball-to-feet football to the Wigan public, a style which helped make Swansea arguably the most attractive attacking side outside of the Premier League. It’s also worth remembering that Hugo Rodallega provided glimpses at the tail end of last season to suggest that he could work well in tandem with the combative Scotland.
While Rodallega is coming in at 6.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game, I’d expect Scotland to be priced lower and in the same 5.5 bracket that currently houses strikers from promoted sides such as Ebanks-Blake and Wolves team-mate Kevin Doyle. That kind of pricing for Scotland is likely to mirrored across the other fantasy games. Sadly, if that’s the case, it’s unlikely that fantasy managers will overlook the Wolves pairing, or indeed Birmingham’s Christian Benitez (more on him soon), for Wigan’s immenent new signing. It will likely take several more deals from Martinez before that situation changes.